This week’s news that WWE had a meeting with Warner Bros. Discovery regarding the television rights to WWE Raw sent shockwaves throughout the professional wrestling industry. After all, WBD has held the television rights to WWE’s rival promotion, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) since the company’s inception in 2019.
Considering AEW’s own rights deal is up in 2024, it’s hard to imagine WWE and AEW coexisting in the Warner Bros. Discovery family. Even if WWE didn’t demand exclusivity, it’s unlikely that WBD would be willing to shell out big money for deals with two separate pro wrestling companies, especially with a new rights deal with the NBA also due.
So what would happen to AEW? For the first time in its five-year existence, it would likely need to find a new television home.
And while there would surely be plenty of suitors, it’s possible — if not likely — that a deal with a company other than WBD would be a step down, at least from a perception standpoint. With WWE having already reached deals with NBC Universal for SmackDown and The CW for NXT, those two entities would likely be out of the running. And although Disney and Amazon have also been linked to WWE regarding Raw, it remains to be seen whether either company would have the same interest in the No. 2 professional company.
Who does that leave?
Considering that AEW was also linked to Showtime during the negotiations for its first TV deal, Paramount might make the most sense. While Paramount will shutter the Showtime Sports brand at the end of this month, the addition of AEW could help fill that void and provide content for both the Paramount+ streaming app, as well as the Showtime linear channel, which will rebrand to “Paramount+ With Showtime” next month.
Other potential options include streamers such as Google’s YouTube TV or Netflix, both of which have shown appetites to increase their live programming. It’s also possible that AEW could be a consolation prize for a current Raw suitor such as Disney or Amazon — albeit likely at a lot less money than they’d be willing to offer to WWE.
With AEW currently producing three weekly television shows (four if you count Ring of Honor) and also laying claim to the Ring of Honor tape library, as well as its own, the prospect of landing with a streamer — be it Paramount, Amazon, Google or Netflix — makes a lot of sense. And while it might be a step back from an exposure standpoint, the future of TV rights deals is clearly shifting toward streaming.
From AEW’s perspective, considering the impact its next deal will have on its long-term future, the decision will likely be a matter of dollars and sense.
Another interesting aspect of WWE’s negotiations with WBD: While Raw‘s rights are available in October 2024, AEW’s current deal with WBD reportedly runs through Dec. 31, 2024. That means if WBD lands Raw, there will be at least a two-month overlap in which either WWE or WBD would need to come up with a short-term solution, or pro wrestling’s two biggest companies would have to find a way to coexist.
An unlikely partnership between sworn enemies? It’s a storyline only pro wrestling could write.
